Introduction

When it comes to core components, you can't deny that the hot products for the last quarter were indeed video cards. Thanks to a big launch from AMD, which saw a ton of new models, we saw a bunch of video cards come through from partners. We're still receiving samples from companies as they release new variations of models.

Along with AMD though, we saw NVIDIA release a new high-end model in the form of the GTX 780 Ti, to compete against the AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB. Along with all of this, there's talk of more models coming from NVIDIA in the coming months, as each side continues to stay relevant in the extremely intensive video card arena.

While there's been a ton of movement in the video card side of things, the motherboard side of things hasn't exactly stood still. With video cards getting such a major focus, we've fallen a bit behind on the motherboard front. We're about to start playing catch up today though, and we're starting off with the very sexy looking GIGABYTE Z87X-OC Force.

So, with that all said and done, let's take the time to see just what is being offered from GIGABYTE as far as the package is concerned.

Package

Taking a look at the front of the box, you can see we've got the model name, along with the brand across the top of the box. You can also see a picture of the cooling setup that is used on the board. Of course, we'll take a closer look at that in just a moment.

Turning the box over, you can see we've got a picture of the board, along with all of the major features being shown. Starting from the top, you can see one of the big features is the new Dual Water / Silent Fan thermal design, which sits across the top of the board. We'll take a closer look at this on the next page, when we look at the motherboard. You can also see some of the main power features, which include High Current Capable 8+4 Pin Power Socket, 15u Gold Plated CPU / Memory / PCIe Sockets, alongside an all IR Digital Power Design.

Other big features include OC Touch, Dual BIOS, and the ability to switch between them with ease. You can see we've also got support for both 4-Way SLI and CrossFire, alongside the OC Brace, which we'll take a closer look at in a second.

Moving inside the box, you can see the normal line of paperwork, with three manuals; including one wireless adapter. You can also see two CDs; one is the typical driver and software, and the other is the Wi-Fi driver.

Continuing on, you can see we've got the normal array of SATA Cables, with six being included in the package. Across the bottom of the image, you can also see we've got our main I/O panel.

Above, you can see the OC Brace, which we mentioned just before when taking a closer look at the box. This isn't something that everyone will use. It's designed to be used when you don't want to install the board into a case. It's a cool feature that overclockers will like, but as we just mentioned, it's not going to be for everyone.

Moving on, you can see we've got a bunch of connectors for multi video card setups. Three are related to SLI, with the top left one being for a four card setup, and the top right one being for a three card setup. Along with that, we've got a bridge for dual card setups for both AMD, and NVIDIA.

Moving even deeper into the bundle, you can see we've got the PCIe GC-WB300D card, which offers both Bluetooth 4.0, and Wireless 802.11 a/b/g/n. Next to that, you can see we've also got an antenna to help with the signal.

Finally, we finish up with the last piece of the bundle, which is a front panel connector that includes two USB 3.0 ports. Overall, you can see we've got quite a massive motherboard bundle being offered here. Having finally looked at all of that though, let's move on to the board.